The invention relates to devices and systems for detecting trace materials associated with biological, chemical, or radioactive conditions on a terrain surface, as well as localized environmental conditions, including vibrations and radio emissions, and more particularly to expendable sensors with telemetry capabilities which can be dropped from an airborne platform and later monitored from that platform or another platform to determine conditions at the site where the sensors have been deposited and/or in the vicinity thereof.
There are numerous situations where it is desirable to map and monitor trace biological, chemical, radioactive agents, as well as localized environmental conditions on a surface, including vibrations and radio emissions, over a broad area of terrain from a standoff distance. For example, doing so can be useful for: 1. mapping for biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons material traces; 2. mapping illicit drug laboratory chemical traces; 3. mapping hazardous material spills; 4. locating drug farms hidden in forests; 5. mapping insect and plant disease infestations; 6. locating and monitoring insect, bird, animal, and plant species habitats; 7. tracking radio collars and gathering animal data; 8. mapping thermal plumes from power plants, volcanoes and geothermal wells; 9. locating lost hikers and avalanche-buried skiers using human detectors; and 10. tracking balloon borne air sensors. In many of these situations, the ability to rapidly deploy a plurality of such sensors and geoposition them, and quickly begin to gather data, is important.